The Honey-and-Acid Creatures

[adelynne]

The monicker, used in Swordspoint to aptly describe one Lord David Campion has been stuck in my head for days. It has been lodged in association with Felix Harrogate, after reading the opening chapters of The Virtu, and it has brought on a case of speculation regarding characters and character archetypes.

Namely, I love those bastards.

Athos was my favorite Musketeer, not the golden D'Artagnan. But I have a feeling that, were I to reread those books today, Aramis would be coming up neck and neck to my troubled gentleman. Likewise, it is the Comte de Monte-Cristo who captures my imagination, not the young Edmond Dantes.

It is never the hero who attracts me, not in the classic sense. Harry Potter with his loving parents who died on his behalf, guided on your typical hero's journey toward the inevitable triumph (though not without proper amounts of sacrifice) is, to me, quite boring. It is, for that reason, I suspect, that while we mourn Ned and Robb Stark in A Song of Ice and Fire, it is Jaime and Tyrion Lannister who hold my affection, along with Jon Snow, who has to compromise his honor to maintain it.

It is easy to be a hero when you're Harry Potter. You might be scared out of your mind, but in your heart of hearts you know you're a good guy. You know that good is what you do, and you know that evil is something you can overcome.

But how much more meaningful is it when you're not said Harry Potter? When you're a kingslayer, a kinslayer, a guy who organizes bum fights, a runaway drugged-up academic, or a former child prostitute and an instrument of your own destruction? When you know that evil you've done, whether it served the greater good or not, is evil you've done, and you struggle to do better anyway?

The odd thing, I find, is that I can only think of one female character who fits into this archetype (Elizabeth Bear's Jenny Casey, of Hammered, etc). Why is that?

And who do you think of?

Comments

[wayzgoose.livejournal.com]

I think of Thomas Covenant. He the tortured leper that Stephen Donaldson wrote who is so convinced that the place where he has been healed only a dream that he rapes the healer for no other reason than to prove that it is only a dream. He can't trust his healing, nor can he believe in his role of bringing healing to the world. What kind of hero is that?

Yet in one chapter, probably one of the most beautiful I've ever read in literature (though that is influenced by the time that I read it and the distance I've come since then without re-reading it), I was brought to tears and purified from all the horrors of my life.

I like to think that there is a point where the archetype is almost denying himself in order to progress to the next level of his own existence. In an instance I change from hating him/her to loving him/her.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

You might try C.J. Cherryh's Downbelow Station for Signy Mallory (and Cherryh in general), and John Varley's Titan series (Titan, Wizard, Demon) protagonist Cirocco Jones, for the spiritual antecedents to Jenny.

Also, kaygo's Jani Killian gets compared to Jenny a lot. The protag of Chris Moriarty's Spin State has some ugly history, too.

These are the characters I love best, too.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

It is easy to be a hero when you're Harry Potter. You might be scared out of your mind, but in your heart of hearts you know you're a good guy. You know that good is what you do, and you know that evil is something you can overcome.

I'm not sure this is accurate. Harry's got issues of his own to deal with, and yes, he's the hero of the series, but he's done some idiotic things. I don't think he knows he's a good guy. He's just doing his damndest *not* to become what the other guy is. The other guy who, incidentally, had a very similar upbringing and background.

Now, you of all people know I love the antiheroes, but I think you might be oversimplifying just a bit. Edmond Dantès is fascinating not only because he's acting for vengeance, but because he's completely convinced himself that he's acting in the name of justice and the higher good. If you asked him, it's not because he wants revenge. It's because he deserves justice for what happened to him.

And I actually very much liked Ned Stark. I was certain he was going to die from the get-go, but I still sniffled lots when he did. And Robb caught me completely off-guard.

The perfect heroes don't interest me. That much is certain. But I think you might be limiting your criteria somewhat.